Fire-protective apparatus.



A PATENTED FEB. 21, 1905. s. EBB & W. E. MORELL.

FIRE PROTECTIVE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION nun NOV.11. 1904.

2 SHIZBTBBKEET 1.

Samuel Erb WITNESES wlllivom E /)NVENTOHS 4%, I

No. 782,903. I PATENTED FEB. 21, 1905. s. ERB & W. E. MORELL. FIRE PROTECTIVE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 11. 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES Patented February 21, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL ERB AND 'ILLIAM ERNEST MORELL, OF CHEMAINUS, CANADA.

FIRE-PROTECTIVE APPARATUS SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,903, dated February 21, 1905.

Application filed No e 11, 1904. Serial No. 232,374.

To it whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, SAMUEL ERB, a citizen of the United States of America, and \VILLIAM ERNEST MoRnLL, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, and both residents of the town of Che: mainus, district of Cowichan, and Province of British Columbia, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire- Protective Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for protecting buildings, dry-kilns, halls, &c., from fire, and is more particularly an improvement in our invention for which we obtained Letters Patent N 0. 7 66,232, dated August 2, 1904,

and has for its objects to increase thesensi-- tiveness of said above invention by increasing the area over which the expansive and fusible metal is suspended, thus affording greater protection, and, further, to increase the flexibility of said invention, so that it can be adapted to rooms of odd shapes, the expansive and fusible metal being hung so as to cover all portions of the room. We attain these objects by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a cross-section of a dry-kiln equipped with our invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section thereof. Figs. 3, 4, and show various arrangements of the suspended expansible and fusible Wires. Fig. 6 is a plan showing the device for connecting the ends of the wires with the tire alarm and extinguishing apparatus. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the end of one of the cross-bars, and Fig. 8 is a front View thereof.

Similar numerals of referencerefer to-simi' lar parts throughout the several views.

Our invention is illustrated as being applied to a dry-kiln for lumber; but it may be used in a great variety of buildings and under many difi'ering circumstances.

In the drawings, 1 refers to the walls, &c., of a kiln which is adapted to receive the lumber and to be heated to a high temperature by the steam-radiating pipes 2, preferably located near the bottom thereof, supplied by steam from the main supply-pipe 3. The valve 4 controls the connection between the supplypipe 3 and the heating-pipes 2.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, th-etwo hooks 5 are secured to the back wall 31 of the kiln 1 near the ceiling thereof and are adapted to hold the looped ends of the two expansionwires 6. On each side wall of the kiln are arranged a number of pulleys. 7 about on a-level with the hooks 5 and adapted to receive the wires 6. A pair of similar pulleys 8 are hung from the ceiling of the kiln near the front wall. The wires 6 are made of any expansible or fusible metal, which may be adapted for the particular conditions for which the room or kiln is designed, and are secured to the hooks 5 and are thence conducted across the kiln from one pulley 7 to another in zigzag manner. Thus each wire 6 crosses the kiln from side to side a number of times before reaching the front thereof. l/Vhen the last pulleys 7 have been passed, the wires 6 are conducted around the pulleys 8 and their ends are secured to each end of the cross-bar 9 in the following manner:

The cross-bar 9 is provided with a horizontal slot 10 in each end, said slot being adapted to allow the wire 6 to pass through it. The wire 6 is made with a loop in its end in such manner as to receive the vertical pin 11,adapted to engage each side of the slot 10 in the end of the bar 9. The length of the wire 6 can be adjusted so that the loop in the end will just pass through the slot in the bar 9, so that the pin 11 is held firmly against the bar by the tension in the wires 6. Both wires 6.have the same kind of connection to the bar and are of equal length.

The bar 9 is connected to the tension-spring and the alarm apparatus through the link 12 at its center and the rod 13. The spring 14 is hung in tension between the rod 13 and the extension 15 of the shelf 16 outside of the kiln 1. The tension of the spring 14 is therefore transmitted to the wires 6 through the rod 13, the link 12, the bar 9, and the pins 11. If one of the wires becomes heated sufliciently to melt, the end thereof which is connected to the bar 9 will release that end of the bar, and the spring 14 will pull the bar 9 so that it will slant, and the other pin 11 and wire 6 will slip out of the other slot 10, and thus the bar 9 will be entirely released from the wires 6 and will be pulled forward under the action of the spring 14. A

In Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are shown a variation of the above arrangement, in which the fusible wires 17, Fig. 4, and the expansible wires 18 with the fusible links 19, Fig. 5, are arranged in parallel sets. In each case the wires are fastened to hooks 20 on the back wall of the kiln and extend in parallel pairs therefrom toward the front of the kiln. The front ends of the wires 17 and 18 are inserted through slots in the subcross-bars 21 in the same manner as the wires 6 pass through slots in the bars 9, as above described. Each subcrossbar 21 is fastened by a link 22 to a rod 23, which passes through the slot 10 in the main cross-bar 9 and has a pin in its end similar to the pins 11 above described. The subcrossbars 21 are similar to the cross-bar 9. Springs 14 keep the wires 17 and 18 in tension.

If one of the wires 17 or one of the fusible links 19 should be melted,because of too great a rise in temperature around it, the tension will cause the subcross-bar 21 to tilt, and thus release the other wire of the pair, and, further, since the pair have released the subcrossbar 21 the cross-bar 9 will tilt and all the remaining wires will be released. The above actions will take place practically simultaneously with the melting of the wire.

The above method of connecting all the ends of the wires to the cross-bars and subcrossbars enables us to know the average temperature in the kiln better than if only one wire were used, because if a small rise in temperature in one part of the kiln should occur the wire nearest it would expand slightly and the subcross-bar 21 would be tilted a little, with the result that a very small movement would be given to that end of the cross-bar 9.

\Ve have illustrated some of the connections outside of the kiln which can be controlled by our invention; but as they have been fully described in the above-mentioned patent we will simply mention a few of them now.

The rod 13 passes through the kiln-wall 1 and has an arm 9A secured to it in such a position as to rest on the shelf 16 at right angles to the rod 13. The adjustable screws 25 pass through the arm 2 L and are adapted to engage the ends of the weight-bars 26, supporting the weights 27. From these various weight-bars 26 are conducted-the wires 28, leading to the various devices which it is desired to operate-such as the whistle 29, the valve 4, or the damper 30 in the ventilatingstack of the kiln. l/Vhen the apparatus expands beyond a certain point, the screws 25 push off any one or all of the weight-bars 26, and thus operate the fire-alarm and protective apparatus.

Having now described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a fire-protective apparatus, the combination of a series of expansible and fusible wires secured to the wall at their inner ends, a cross-bar connecting the outer ends of said wires, tension mechanism connected to said cross-bar whereby said wires are kept in tension, and means connected to said cross-bar whereby lire-alarm and fire-protective apparatus is brought into action.

2. In a fire-protective apparatus, the combination of pairs of expansible and fusible wires secured to the wall at their inner ends, a subcross-bar connecting the outer ends of each pair of said wires, a cross-bar connecting the centers of said subcross-bars, tension mechanism connected to said cross-bar whereby said wires are kept in tension, and means connected to said cross-bar whereby fire-alarm and fire-protective apparatus is brought into action.

3. In a fire-protective apparatus, the combination of a series of expansible and fusible wires secured to the wall at their inner ends and having loops in their outer ends, a crossbar having a horizontal slot in each end adapted to receive the outer endsof said wires, pins passing through the loops at the ends of said wires and engaging the sides of said slots, tension mechanism connected to said cross-bar whereby said wires are kept in tension, and means connected to said cross-bar whereby tire-alarm and fire-protection apparatus is brought into action.

1. Ina fire-protective apparatus, the combination of a series of expansible and fusible wires secured to the wall at their inner ends, a cross-bar connecting the outer ends of said wires and adapted to hold them in tension when the expansion of the wires is equal but adapted to release all the wires if one wire becomes melted, tension mechanism connected to said cross-bar whereby said wires are kept in tension, and means connected to said crossbar whereby ire-alarm and fire-protective ap paratus is brought into action.

5. In a fire-protective apparatus, the combination of a series of expansible and fusible wires secured to the rear wall at their inner ends, pulleys arranged on a level along the side walls and adapted to have the wires conducted around them from side wall to side wall, a cross-bar connecting the outer ends of said wires, tension mechanism connected to said cross-bar whereby the wires are kept in tension, and means connected to said cross-bar whereby fire-alarm and fire-protective apparatus is brought into action.

Signed at Chemainus this 25th day of October, 1904.

SAMUEL ERB. WVILLIAM ERNEST MORELL.

Witnesses:

A. L. PALMER, Guo. R. ELLIOTT. 

